From: [b--ld--p] at [xmission.xmission.com] (Bwaldrop)
Newsgroups: talk.politics.drugs,alt.politics.libertarian,alt.society,resistance
Subject: DRUG WAR STATISTICS
Date: 25 Dec 1993 20:34:37 -0700
DRUG WAR STATISTICS
These statistics are all taken from the STATISTICAL ABSTRACT OF THE UNITED
STATES. All data are for the year 1990 (most recent available, I think)
unless otherwise specified.
PEOPLE IN JAIL: 1,144,214 (distribution: 688,084 in state prisons,
50,810 in federal prison, 405,320 in local jails)
PEOPLE UNDER AUTHORITY OF THE CORRECTIONAL SYSTEM: 4,053,900 (prison,
parole, probation)
REGARDING OFFENDERS SENTENCED TO PRISON IN US DISTRICT COURTS:
Average sentence for a violent offense: 89.8 months. Persons sentenced
for violent offenses in 1980: 1,770; in 1990: 1,999.
Average sentence for possession of illegal drugs: 13.1 months. Average
sentence for illegal drug sales: 83.5 months.
Persons sentenced to prison for illegal drug offenses in 1980: 3,675; in
1990: 13,754.
THEREFORE: The number of violent criminals sentenced had a minor increase
1980-1990. Persons sentenced for War on Drugs offenses increased 400%,
1980 to 1990.
-------------------------
REGARDING VIOLATIONS OF THE "DRUG ABUSE PREVENTION AND CONTROL ACT" (DAPCA):
In 1980, 1,690 defendents were charged with offenses relating to Marijuana
under DAPCA, of which 1,121 were convicted, 569 were not convicted; 754
went to prison with an average sentence of 47.2 months.
In 1990, 5,139 defendents were charged with Marijuana offenses under DAPCA
-- a 300% increase over 1990, of which: 4,128 were convicted (3,624 on a
guilty plea), 1,011 were not convicted (915 were dismissed); 3,004 went to
prison, average sentence of 48.9 months.
In 1980, 3,290 defendents were charged with other drug offenses under
DAPCA, of which 749 were not convicted and 2,541 were convicted; 1,945
went to prison with an average sentence of 60.8 months.
In 1990, 12,649 defendents were charged with other drug offenses under
DAPCA, of which 1,850 were not convicted (1,506 were dismissed); 10,799
were convicted (8,423 by a guilty plea); 9,804 went to prison with an
average sentence of 86.2 months.
At an average cost of $30,000/year/prisoner (that stat is not from the
Statistical Abstract), each of the 9,804 "other drug offense" prisoners in
1990 who went to prison cost the taxpayers $221,403 for incarceration
costs. The jail cost of sentences of that year's "batch" of new prisoners for
drug (non-marijuana) offenses is $2,440,723,248.
Each marijuana "criminal" sentenced in 1990 cost an average of $92,451 for
incarceration, or $277,722,804 for the 1990 batch of federal cannabis
criminals.
NOTE: These financial data are for federal prisoners only. There are
actually more people sentenced for drug crimes in state courts (and lower)
than there are in the federal system.
Since the state prison population is about 13 times the population of the
federal prison system, if we make (an admittedly) big assumption that the
state and fed systems have similar proportions of drug/marijuana
criminals and sentence drug/cannabis "criminals" to similar sentences, we
multiply those figures for the federal
system by 13 to arrive at a proxy for 1990 state incarceration costs:
PROXY for 1990 incarceration costs, persons sentenced in state courts for
marijuana felonies: $3,610,396,452. Combined state/federal cost:
$3,888,119,256.
PROXY for 1990 incarceration costs, persons sentenced in state courts for
other drug felonies (as in "non-marijuana-related"): $31,729,402,224.
Combined state/federal cost: $34,170,125,472.
PROXY FOR TOTAL INCARCERATION COST OF PERSONS SENTENCED FOR ALL DRUG FELONIES,
STATE AND FEDERAL LEVELS IN 1990:
$38,058,244,728
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
"Proxy" means this is _heavily qualified_ by the assumptions noted above.
It should be possible to find and develop actual data for each state of
the quality of that reported in the State Abstract of the U.S. for the feds.
On the basis of that -- which would include numbers of people actually
sentenced, average sentence, cost of incarceration in that state -- a hard
number could be developed for the incarceration costs. This analysis
could be extended backwards and we could develop figures such as this for
each year, which would supply some kind of "grand total" for (e.g.) 20
years of drug war incarcerations. Whatever the numbers are, from the
indications of these preliminary data, it might be a very shocking figure.
These data do not consider other factors, such as costs of investigation
and arrest, trial, counsel (although note the high numbers of people who
either plead guilty OR get their cases dismissed).
SOME FINAL DATA:
In 1990, the "drug arrest total, per 100,000 inhabitants" was 437.5, for a
total of 1,083,750 arrests for "drug crimes". (In the Stat Abstract,
there is a data discrepancy between Table 302, which lists 869,000 drug
abuse violations, and Table 304, "Drug Arrest Rates for Drug Abuse
Violations".) From Table 304: 326,500 of the 1M arrests were for
marijuana violations. These figures include state and local arrests.
In 1980, $246,344,000 in assets were seized relating to 15,727 arrests and
10,519 convictions for drug crimes. In 1990, $1,068,268,000 was seized
($862,361,000 by the DEA), in the course of 22,800 arrests and 15,529
convictions.
IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN EXPANDING THIS ANALYSIS, to the point where we
could say make a definitive estimate, from government statistical
abstracts, of the dollar cost of incarceration in the War on Drugs, send
me private email. Maybe we can divvy up the researching, pile it all into
a big spread sheet.
I invite criticism and critique of my numbers (especially the arithmetic
<grin>). So, peer review and critique and if I don't have the right
numbers, let's get them so we can show people exactly how much of their
tax money is being poured down the rathole of locking people up under
Prohibition.
Bob Waldrop
[b--ld--p] at [xmission.com]